Siemens Power Generation (PG) announced on 21 September 2007 the official opening of its new wind turbine blade factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, the company''s first manufacturing plant for wind turbine components in the US at an investment of €20 million.

The factory is expected to produce approximately 600 wind turbine blades per year, which will be shipped to wind farms in the US.

Since the acquisition of Bonus Energy in 2004, Siemens has made significant strides to grow its presence in the wind energy industry in the US. In 2006, Siemens ranked second in market share in the US with an installed capacity of 570 MW, which it expects to exceed in 2007.

So far this year, Siemens has already received wind turbine orders totalling more than 550 MW in the US. Altogether, these projects have the potential to provide clean power to nearly 140,000 homes.

Siemens established this 311,000-square-foot turbine blade manufacturing facility in Fort Madison to meet more effectively the strong demand for clean wind energy in the US.

Blades for the company''s 2.3-MW wind turbines are manufactured at the new site from where the company delivered the first 148-foot-long, 12-ton blades to a customer site in Texas in August 2007. So far, the company says, it has hired 220 employees in Fort Madison and expects to expand to 260 by the end of the year.

The total employee headcount of the Siemens Wind Division has quadrupled since the acquisition of the Danish company Bonus Energy in December 2004. Siemens Wind Power now employs more than 3,200 employees worldwide, including 400 people in the US. The number of its wind turbine installations also has tripled since 2004. The company expects to install 1,500 MW of new capacity worldwide in 2007.

Since entering the wind industry, Siemens says it has greatly expanded the capacities of its worldwide manufacturing network. In addition to opening the wind turbine blade manufacturing facility in Iowa, the Danish facilities in Brande and Aalberg have been expanded, and a new blade factory was opened in Engesvang, Denmark, in 2006.

"By opening a new factory in Iowa we will be able to increase our ability to competitively serve the important North American market," states Andreas Nauen, head of Siemens Wind Power, during the grand opening ceremony of the new facility. "We are especially pleased that we were able to build our first U.S. facility in Fort Madison. Iowa is one of the most supportive states of wind energy and other renewables."

The Power Generation Group (PG) of Siemens AG posted sales amounting to more than €10 billion and received new orders totalling €12.5 billion (as per US GAAP) for fiscal 2006 (which ended September 30).